First dive with new gear

Squat Shrimp (photo from Wikipedia)

Last week, my dive buddies and I saw a cluster of fascinating critters: really tiny orange, white-spotted shrimp with upturned tails, all congregated around a tube anemone. Our dive master told us later that those were squat shrimp (Thor amboinensis). No bigger than the tip of my finger, they were just crouched there among the anemone’s tentacles, but they jumped one after another when the DM gently swept a stick across the bunch.

Yesterday I saw more squat shrimp, but only two of them, and on top of another type of anemone that I have yet to identify (it was round and flat with thick tentacles, with splotches of purple — kind of like the one in the photo here). The two shrimp looked like they were feeding, but one of them kept wriggling its underbelly while it flitted from one spot to another atop the anemone. And then today again, I saw quite a lot of them! On both occasions, it was at Angel’s Cove.

I wish I had an underwater camera housing for my LX3! There are so many undersea wonders to capture visually, so it gets a bit frustrating during dives when I see something that would be awesome to share with everyone…and I can’t. But, I’m going to hold off on this purchase, because the diving gear alone isn’t exactly a walk in the park to pay for.

First set of diving gear

Speaking of which, I’ve finally completed my scuba equipment — my very first set! And, after a month of diving (not counting my dozen or so “intro” dives over the years), I broke them in today. I’d already gotten the basic stuff (mask & snorkel, fins, booties.) a fortnight ago, then my brother couriered me my Tusa BCD from a clearance sale by Scuba World late last week. Then this weekend, the Carabao Dive Center gave me a really good deal that I simply couldn’t refuse, on a Cressi regulator assembly, a Scuba Max three-gauge console (depth, pressure, compass), and a Scuba Max octopus.

The dive shop assembled the regulators and gauges for me, and even threw in a couple of colorful hose protectors for free. You gotta love those guys at Carabao!

Here’s my checklist of scuba gear & accessories:

The underwater notebook is über handy, and I use it to document my dives, and for jotting down observations and stuff. I’m just hoping either — or both — of my two dive buddies will get an underwater housing for their cameras soon, so that our journals here could be super colorful. ;)